Suspended gralloch using minimal kit

[Donkey Basher]

Following on from a thread where the OP was looking for a gambrel for field gralloching I said I’d post some pics next time I had a beastie & here they are.

Before anyone comments to say “ah yes but that won’t work on big deer” - it will, it was just that the only shootable deer I saw this morning was this wee Muntjac!

Start off with about 3-4m of braided line from a (yatch) chandlers (or from a well known online auction site).

Make a small loop on one end - the loop only needs to be big enough to pass the other end of the line through, and make sure it has a tail around 2-300mm long.





Pass the loop around any suitable tree or fence post then put the long end through & take up the slack - it doesn’t need to be tight, gravity will sort things out for you later.

Hock your deer & put the S hook through one or both cuts depending on size of the beastie, then lift the end of the line & hook the S hook over it.

Lift the end of the line upwards & you will have some crude mechanical advantage & through careful bending of knees & straight back even the heaviest of animals can be lifted to a point high enough to complete the gralloch. When the animal is high enough tie off the ‘short’ tail using a simple reef knot which can be done with one hand while the other takes the weight.




It really is as simple as that & all the kit needed can be carried in a jacket.

 

[finnbear270]

I do that with my drag rope & a small spring gated shackle, (As long as I am near a handy upright anything)

 

[@theroedeerguy]

I just use a small S hook.

Fits in a small accessory pouch on my binocular harness and is easy.

If there’s no suitable trees nearby then they just get gralloched on the ground.

 

[Overlay]

This fits in my bum bag, small Muntie / Roe gambrel ( courtesy of Tim 243 design and build) with rachet pulley and rope with a stainless attach cable all fits in a very small bag with knives and gloves etc
don’t know your carrying and it works perfectly

 

[JockStalk]

Just put a slit in the hock, one leg through the hole and et voila.

Can’t get more minimal than nowt

 

[308tikka]

I use a similar method when no horizontal branches that can hold the deer.. but I use a climbing loop which binds on itself. You can lift muntjac up easily enough and you only need partial suspension for larger deer. Also works on fenceposts and telegraph posts!

 

[finnbear270]

Just put a slit in the hock, one leg through the hole and et voila.

Can’t get more minimal than nowt

Minimal,

 

[terrier1]

S hook for Roe CWD and muntjac.
And have used on fallow S hook paracord and a pully.

 

[Mungo]

I found it really awkward carrying the tree around to suspend it on, so have gone back to doing it on the ground…

 

[lochty]

@Mungo .....ditto

 

[terrier1]

I found it really awkward carrying the tree around to suspend it on, so have gone back to doing it on the ground…

Always best to know how to gralloch both on the ground and how to do a suspended gralloch this why I believe the DSC2 should be more than one stalk. It can then be demonstrated that the candidate could do both hygienically and to the best practice.

 

[Tim.243]

A good messenger

Always best to know how to gralloch both on the ground and how to do a suspended gralloch this why I believe the DSC2 should be more than one stalk. It can then be demonstrated that the candidate could do both hygienically and to the best practice.

Quite, but if Mrs Brown saw her next weeks Sunday Beef joint laying in the yard with a chap wrestling its insides out saying
Ney worry lassie the paper work said it's fine....we cut the tree down to keep warm...

Messenger rope over the high branch, silver line 3-1 and to quote Norfolk Deer Search "get your tit's in the sink"
that was 94k dressed on my own

 

[tarponhead]

I’ve never seen a gralloch done the same way twice, so my next one will be on the ground using Charlie’s patented 30 second field gralloch. I carry two S hooks and can usually find a convenient branch, but I’ve only done roe and munties on my own - my guides have done the fallow, so I want to get more practice this year and then do my DSC2.

 

[FISH BOY]

For the smaller species, a simple drag rope with a couple of additional carabiners does the job.

 

[75]

careful bending of knees & straight back even the heaviest of animals can be lifted to a point high enough to complete the gralloch.

Err, not a hope with a lowland red. Some mechanical advantage, lots of friction and a lot of weight!

tie off the ‘short’ tail using a simple reef knot which can be done with one hand while the other takes the weight.

Best of luck with anything bigger than a roe or young fallow.

 

[shakey jake]

Minimal,View attachment 344936

that tree looks heavy to move around!

 

[NoIDeer]

Rachet pulley and a couple of loops of paracord with hooks.

 

[Overlay]

or this

 

[Klenchblaize]

For the smaller species, a simple drag rope with a couple of additional carabiners does the job.

View attachment 344989View attachment 344990

Good stuff. The Op’s tip is spot-on too but you can end up wrestling with a fallow that wants to hug the tree and flatten you against it when trying to get around the back for tunnelling operations and/or if skinning and breaking the beast down in-the-field.

K

 

[Tim.243]

I’ve never seen a gralloch done the same way twice, so my next one will be on the ground using Charlie’s patented 30 second field gralloch. I carry two S hooks and can usually find a convenient branch, but I’ve only done roe and munties on my own - my guides have done the fallow, so I want to get more practice this year and then do my DSC2.

I have looked at the methods I have done reds/fallow on the ground on the tailgate and worked out for my self people work better/safer standing up so I do them hanging as with big deer gravity helps a lot. Also on you own doing one on the ground in the dark you put a sharp knife down as you are now using the bone saw then want the knife....!
I get that people can't hang it up or don't want to but all the food industry who work to standards in the world once the cow pig sheep camel horse chicken is killed stunned stuck bled it is on the hook and up up and away....
For many reasons as I said earlier but film the above being cleaned out on the floor and your business would be shut in a week.
It is not easy and we all do our best, however others do it better.